THE PSYCHO-ANALYTIC STUDY OF THE FAMILY
of the psychic situation of such a kind as was before
impossible; and very often the true course to be steered
appears with unmistakable clearness before our vision as the
result of our increased self-knowledge. This is only an instance
of what so frequently—one might say generally—occurs as the
as usual in result of psycho-analysis; not only in the case of psycho-
psycho- analytic research into the processes of the individual mind,
investigations but also to some extent in the case of the general treatment
of a problem or a situation upon psycho-analytic lines. That
too is the reason why, in the present case, the practical
conclusions to be drawn from our considerations have to a
very large extent emerged oi themselves in the course of these
considerations and have in the main become evident to us
without any further procedure being necessary to elicit them.
The two chief Thus it will by now have become amply clear, what, in
F^ces^s the main, are the pitfalls to avoid in the course of family life,
ethical and what are the chief ends which it is desirable to seek. The
consideration weaning Of the child from the incestuous love which binds it
to the family (together with the secondary hatred which this
love may entail) and the gradual loosening of the psycho-
logical, moral and economic dependence of the individual on
the family have revealed themselves as the two chief aspects
of the task with which the ethical treatment of our subject
has to deal. The considerations brought forward in the last
three chapters have shown that human beings are subject to two
opposing tendencies in these respects—one of these tendencies
uniting the individual closely to the family, the other separating
him sharply from it; both tendencies being conditioned by
psychological and biological factors of fundamental significance.
It is the duty of a sane and reasonable ethics of the family
to indicate the most satisfactory solution of the conflict which
these opposing tendencies engender, giving such scope to
either tendency as may be necessary for it to fulfil its
essential function in the life of the individual and the race.
The tendencies Our treatment of the subject during the greater part of
S^more this book' Bowing as it does the actual findings of those
primitive than who have been brought face to face with these tendencies in the
frohmthe1^miiy course of ^eir endeavours to understand and cure the disorders
of mental growth and personality, has no doubt conveyed to
some extent the impression that it is the first mentioned
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